The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1887-07-22
CYRUS THE CASH BOY.

i y 6NOMUltSbIOu, ny 6ouTBo1 utiitIlls
In st. Nicholas for July.
CYRUS THE CASH BOY.
1 How 0yrns ~ Field Rose From Poverty
/ - 1iohss-Eis Methods of Money 4As.
! ing-arsaf Enterprises Engineered.
Now York Morning Journal
The procession in celebration Of tho
first Atlantic cable has long since been
eelipsed by grander pageants, and At
lantic cables have become as much mat
ter Of course as ordinary telegraph lines;
but at that time Now York had never be-
fore seen SO splendid show In the
streets. The city was so crowded with
sight seers that the people slept in arm
chairs at the hotels, or camped out in the
parks. Tho military parade, the civil
societies, swelled the largo line; the
trades union sent tableaux on
wheels representing various artisans at
work. Then, standing In an open
baronche and bowing to the right and
left in response to cheers of the crowd
came the hero Of the occasion, Cyrus
w. Field, tall, nervouslooking gentle
man, with light brown hair and beard,
8 Roman nose, bluish-grey eyes, snd
the sanguine face Of o born Yankee.
As he was then, so Mr.. Field is now
trife stouter, perhaps, and with Q
tinge OF silyeramong his auburn hair.
The years since this grent triumph have
touched him lightly.
A born Yankee Mr.. Field certainly Is.
He first saw the light ut Ssockbridge,
Mass. on O,tober 30, 1910. He was
the youngest son of New England
clergyman, who subsequently removed
to Hnddam, Conn. His brother, David
Dudley, was given collegiate education;
instead Of classical education Cyrus
received $25 in cash and his fathers
blessing. With these treasures and fair
knowledge OF reading, writing and
arithmetic, he was sent to New York
and obtained q situation as cash boy
in A. T. Stewards store, at the liberal
salary Of 80 week. For three years
young Cyrus worked and starved in
the employ Of the dry goods mil
| lionaire, and then o better and bright
er life WAS opened to him as travelling
salesman for paper maker at Lee,
Conn. Even In Stewards establishment
Cyrus made his mark by his energy and
ability, and when he went away the
| clerks clubed together and present
cd him with diamond pin and o fare
| we'll supper. A. T. Stewart gave him
| nothing. strangely enough Mr.. Field
has lived to see the name of A. T.
Stewart as thoroughly painted out as il
that millionaire had never lived.
Comforted by one good supper and
adorned with his presentation pin, Cy-
rus threw himself into the work OF sell
Ing paper with such zeal that in two
years lie had mastered the business.
He then formed copartnership in this
city. His venture was unsuccessful.
and in few months he was bankrupt.
The blow was a heavy onej he had been
recently married, and had lost every
dollar, hut Mr.. Field bore his misfor-
tune with his accustomed courage. He
started in again, and ON the first day
that he took possession OF his new Of
fice he made the sanguine remark: II
shall make q fortune here in twenty
years. Better than his word, he made
his fortune in twelve years and retired,
still in the prime Of life, to enjoy that
rest which he had never before known
since his boyhood.
In leisure moment he formed an
acquaintance with one Gishorne, who
had conceived the project Of on ATTAIN
tic cable, and had procured charter
for tho laying OF tho cable from the log
islature Of Newfoundland. The ais-
borne's work had ended; but he talked
II over with Mr.. Field, whose leisure
hung heavily upon him, although he
had travelled through Bogota, Guaya-
qui and Ecuador with Church who paint
cd the Heart OF the Andes," to try and
while away the time. Mr. Field be-
became interested in Gisborne's scheme
and one night, while studying tho geo.
graphical globe, which still stands in
his library, his interest famed into on
thusiasm, and he shouted; at car be
done, and it shnll be done.s The next
night he called together his friends
Peter Cooper. Moses Taylor, Marshall
O. Roberts, Chandler White and Wilson
G.. Hunt--and preached Atlantic ca
bio to them until they were converted
| to his plans. stock company was
formed, the necessary capital for pre-.
liminary expenses subscribed; his
brother Dudley acted as lawyer Of the
enterprise, and Cyrus sailed for Eng
land to wrest the money for the cable
from British investors. No monk OF
old ever preached the crusade with
better vehemence, and In q wonderfully
short time, and in defiance OF innumer-
able difficulties, the cablo wns COM
menced and the ships chartered to lay
it
Before the Atlantic cable was an ac-
accomplished fact Mr.. Field had labor
ed upon it for twelve years and crossed
the ocean fifty-one times. The first
cable would not operate, but 10y
dead in its ocean grave. The second
cable spoke for three weeks, then part
ed and was dead as the first. In 1866
the Great Eastern succeeded in per-
manently uniting two worlds. Then
were forgotten in the triumphs Of sue
cess. Congress voted Mr.. Field med
al; the queen Of England knighted his
associates, and he would have been Sir
Cyrus had not his American birth and
prejudices prevented,
In 1879 he celebrated, at hts Gram
ercy Park residence, the silver wedding
of the cable project, and here as in
England tho best society did honors to
his achieSen,ents. William NJ. Evarts,
IN his commemorative address, de-
clared Columbus said, Hero is one
world, let there be two But Cyrus W.
Field said; Here are two worlds, let
there be one, and both commands were
obeyed."
Mr.. Field Is the owner of the Wash
ington building and other real estate
valued at $40. 900, 900. In stocks, bonds
and other securities has $40, 200 900
more
He owns country house at Irving.
Ton and . mansion opposite that Of his
former Sssiness associate and recent
rival, Samuel J. Tilden, in Gramercy
Square In Mr.. Fields shirt front
flashes one Of the largest and purest
smeralds in the world, and one often
wonders as he admires that jewel
whether Mr.. Field really values it high
or than the diamond pin presented to
MIN when . poor cash boy by a. T.
Etewarts clerks,
A Doctors Candid ODinion of the